“I was born on August 9th, 1962 in Bexleyheath, Greater London. I grew up in Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and Greater Manchester and I'm the oldest of four. My dad worked in breweries making beer and my mum was a teacher and then a social worker.
I've loved drawing for as long as I can remember and my parents always gave me lots of encouragement as well as plenty of art materials and masses of drawing paper!
I've now illustrated close to 250 books. They range from board books for babies to novels for young teenagers. I've worked with authors including Julia Donaldson, Jeremy Strong, Michael Rosen, Giles Andreae, Kaye Umansky, Kes Gray and most notably Dame Jacqueline Wilson and I've also written around 40 of my own books. I'm delighted to say that quite a few of the books have won prizes. I was the official illustrator for World Book Day in 2006 and I have a fellowship from Hereford College of Art. I'm also the proud recipient of a gold Blue Peter badge.“